Avatar Roku Book One: Fire
by Misty L. Lake
Summary: A young Avatar Roku struggles with the idea of having so much power and responsibility, while learning about himself, love, and the idea that war may some day come and that the Avatar may be powerless to stop it. Disclamer: Many of the characters are not
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Book One: Fire

Chapter One: Knowledge

Part One: Sleepless Nights

His first belief, of course, was that he was too young. He may have been unusually talented, for his age at least, but he couldn't understand why they thought he, Roku, was the Avatar. He sighed as he looked at his hands; he didn't feel any different, physically, and the only change he felt emotionally was the fear and worry that came with responsibility that he had no choice but to bear. "I don't understand…" he whispered to himself. "I should have a choice!" the candles that gave light to his room suddenly burst into brighter flames than they had portrayed the entire night. He took a deep breath and steadied himself; the last thing he needed was to burn down their home.

The voice of his mentor came to his mind, "You should meditate more, Roku, no matter how much natural talent you have, it will mean nothing until you harness it."

"I know, I know…" He whispered, though he was only reminiscing, all of the masters thought that he was beyond them now, and he would soon move on to one of the other arts, after traveling to the Earth kingdom. But all of these were thoughts for another moment.

Sighing deeply, he crossed his legs on his low bed and stared intently at the candle nearest to him. He watched it flicker and turn, desperately trying to control every stray thought that came to his head. Unfortunately, however, with each thought, came a kind of anxious energy which began to build in his chest, until he finally lost control and the candle once again became an inferno. He quickly kicked it over and stamped it out with his foot.

"I'm sure they all wish they could see the great Avatar Roku now…" he sighed to the scorch mark on the floor. Cleaning it would only be another thing he would have to do, before he left.

'Leaving…' he thought. 'Perhaps the only upside to this whole affair…' He returned to his bed, gazing unseeingly at his ceiling in wonder. What would all the other kingdoms be like, and all of the other elements? Would all the other masters be as stuffy as his? He was quite anxious to learn all of them, and the idea that he could excited him, making him wonder how he could use them together, or if it were at all possible. Could, he, for instance, mix the polar opposites of fire and water?

Oh, if only he could have all the advantages without the added burden of keeping peace. "There are so many of them," he told his ceiling. "And only one of me. If ever they got tired of peace, there truly would be nothing to stop them."

It was then that his imagination wandered, showing him the horrid picture of the nations at war, Fire and Water, forever against, neither ever yielding, but always at an eternal stalemate, the power of Wind making troops rise and fall to their deaths without notice, Earth crushing all that stood against it. He didn't like the idea much. "Even if my power over them is a hoax," He thought out loud. "I guess I can understand why they think they need someone in balance… someone to blame when things go wrong." He resisted the urge to let his anger rise again, sure that he would burn the house down if he did.

"Roku?" cooed a quiet, childlike voice. "Who are you talking to?"

"I was just talking to myself again," he sighed and turned to the young girl. "Did I wake you?"

She nodded as she rubbed her eyes. "You talk to yourself loud."

"I'm sorry," he smiled at her. Raan was almost like a little sister to him; he was there when she was born, and, being much older than her, was able now to appreciate the innocence and delight that she held in most everything. "Is there anyway I could help you get back to sleep?"

Raan nodded and quickly came and sat on his lap, "Will you do your trick?"

He chuckled. No matter how much everything else had changed around him, she seemed to remain the same. When everyone else was now referring to him as something close (if not higher than) royalty, to Raan, everything he did would always be "tricks" used only in amusement.

"Alright… watch that candle there," he said as he pointed to one. She watched the flickering flame eagerly, as Roku began to hum quietly in her ear. Slowly, the flame began to sway to the music, and once it was in perfect time to the quiet rhythm, it began to take on shapes. He willed it to grow when he needed it too; using all of the disciplines he had learned over his last sixteen years to keep it in shape or from burning anything that was around it. Raan delighted in the birds, sleek animals, and pretty bugs that flickered in and out of the flame, but, since she was quite young, most of her energy was soon spent, and she fell into a quiet sleep in Roku's arms. He continued humming as he gathered her in his arms, cuddling her close to him as he walked to her room and set her down on her bed. He stayed by her until he was sure she would not wake again until morning. Then, quietly, he stalked back to his own room, where he yawned with fatigue.

'There's a problem with leaving too,' he thought as he lay down. 'No one will be willing to sing Raan to sleep…' And, with the thought of the sleepless nights of a child bearing heavy on his mind, he extinguished the candles flames.


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Part two: Learning to Fly

"I want to give you something," His old teacher, Quan said to him. "The Fire Lord has been very generous to you."

"What do you mean?" Roku asked. He knew very little about the Fire Lord, and other than his supposed "power" to keep balance between the nations, had no idea why he would be interested in him at all.

Quan led him into the large building that they used for training, through the smaller rooms to the innermost chamber, a large, open, room used for practice duels, mainly, unless, of course, one of the students badly disrespected the wrong master. There, in front of him waited a dragon.

"I--uh--I don't understand…" Roku said. He had always been a little afraid of the giant creatures. They seemed to know so much more than the lowly humans that the let ride them, and he always expected them to some day get the better of the Fire Kingdom.

"This is your spirit guide, Roku," Quan said as he spread his opens wide in front of the dragon, expecting him, obviously, to be happy.

"Uh um… "Roku looked at the giant beast. It looked back at him with the cunning, over-intelligent eyes that he had come to expect from dragons. "What, exactly, does a spirit guide do?"

"He will guide you, and take you to where you need to be," Quan explained.

"So… I'll ride on him," Roku tried to clarify.

"Basically, yes," Quan said.

"Eh… I don't think I can do that…." Roku said the idea of flying up over everything and then looking down… it made him sick.

"The only way you're going to get to the air temples is if you take a dragon," His old teacher explained, annoyed at his ex-pupils ungratefulness.

"Do I have to learn airbending?" Roku asked quietly.

"Yes you do!" Quan said, and Roku felt the familiar quick hit to the back of his head. "As Avatar, you must keep the balance between all of the nations, not just fire, water, and earth."

"But it's so… high," Roku said. He had a vision of him flying on the back of a dragon, and the falling to his death. "I can't do this…." He said in a shaky voice, running his fingers through his long brown hair.

"Than you might as well go home. If you're not going to treat all of the Kingdoms equally, and look over your own fears, than you might as well forget that anyone ever told you that you are the Avatar," Quan said.

"But it doesn't change the fact that I am," Roku said.

"Exactly! No ones going to do your work! So you might as well get used to forgetting yourself," Quan lectured.

Roku glared at his master, though he knew he was right. Sighing, he stood and walked up to the dragon. Slowly the great beast lowered his head, and Roku put a hand on the side of his face, 'please be a nice dragon…' he thought before he started to climb up on the dragons head. Once he had reached the most level area of the dragons head, he quickly picked up the reigns that were tied to his horns. "Wait, so where do I put my feet?' he asked his old teacher.

"How am I supposed to know, I've never ridden a dragon," Quan said, shrugging.

"Wait, what? You got me to get up here without even knowing how I'm supposed to stay on!" Roku yelled, panicked.

"Yes. I'll see you at the port, Roku," he said as the dragon lifted his head.

"What?" Roku practically screamed. The dragon stretched out its crimson wings and flapped them to begin rising. "Wait, wait, wait, wait!" he could feel his feet slipping on the dragons scales, and in a panic he ran forward to desperately hold onto one of the dragons horns. He felt his feet loose all grip on the dragons scales. He closed his eyes tight and tried to calm himself. 'I'm not flying… I'm just dreaming right?' he then opened his eyes, and saw clouds fly by his head and glimpses the Kingdom below him. 'No, not dreaming…' he pulled his legs up and curled them around the horn, to ensure that he didn't fall to his death.

It seemed like forever until he found his body sliding down the horn, landing on the dragons head. Somewhere, not far underneath him, he heard Quan laugh. He opened his eyes, pleased to find that the dragon had landed, but, unhappy that it had landed in front of half of his village. He pried himself off of the horn and stood up, shakily and, blushing furiously, he scratched the back of his head and waved. "Uh… hi…" He eagerly jumped down from the dragons head and walked over to where his teacher was standing. "You could have killed me!" He hissed angrily.

"Well, then I'd only have to go to the Air temple to see you again," Quan smirked.

Roku opened his mouth, but then closed it and clenched his teeth, "I don't know why I try…"

"You'll have to deal with me for a while, Roku, after all, I'm going to travel with you," Quan said.

"Y—you are? How? I can't even ride on that thing!" Roku yelled.

"The dragons not the only thing the Fire Lord sent you…" He then gestured to a great fleet of Fire Navy ships that waited in the harbor.

"Why did he send those?" Roku asked.

"You're going to the Earth kingdom, the largest kingdom and the closest to this one. He wants to ensure that you're safe," Quan said.

"And he doesn't want to miss an opportunity to show off." Roku added.

"Exactly."


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Disclaimer: Wow, I should have had one of these a while ago… Roku is not mine, but most characters are of my imagination.

Note: Sorry I haven't/may not continue updating this for a while, it's my Senior year and I have way too much to do… I do have good excuses (mostly) and I hope to do better in the future.

Part Three: Saying Goodbye

Roku sighed as he looked around everyone that was going to be accompanying him. He was somewhat disheartened. Now, if he made any mistakes, there would be no denying it. There was no doubt that they were all loyal men, but it didn't mean that they were immune from the human flaw of the need to gossip, especially about people that were somehow "higher" than they were.

"Time to say goodbye, Avatar Roku, and begin your journey," Quan said.

"Yes… I know…" Roku knew this would be perhaps the hardest part, saying goodbye to those he loved. In his journey, he hoped the first step would be the hardest.

Roku walked down to those who stood in the middle of the crowd, his family, and those that he had come to consider as such. "So… um… I'll see you all soon, I hope," he smiled at the proud faces, some, especially that of his mother, glistening in tears.

He felt something tug at his pants, startled, he looked down into the concerned face of Raan. "Will you be back tonight?"

He felt some mixture of wanting to laugh and cry at the same time. "No Raan, I'm afraid I'll be gone for a long time… I need to master all of the elements. But I promise, it will be worth it. Even for you." He knelt down and hugged her.

"Kay… will you do one last trick before you go?" Raan asked, saddened by the news, but always her happy self.

"Sure…" He thought of something that would be great enough to keep him in her memory, if his journey came to be longer than even he thought it would be. In his thoughts, his eyes turned to the dragon that he had almost died on minutes before.

He ignited the air in his hands, and, with a burst of energy, strung out a dragon in perfect image of his; however much smaller. He sent it up into the air and fed it more fire, and, slowly it grew and was soaring, warm and bright above their heads. He toyed with it for a while, trying to differ how much and what the fire was fed, differing its colors and brightness. Eventually, still concentrating wholly on the dragon, he reached down and grabbed a fistful of sand and threw it up to his beast, and surrounded it with the sand. Carefully he twisted the concoction with the sand, taking it higher and, eventually, suffocating the flames.

The dragon died, and a shining crystal fell, cooling on its way to the earth. Roku gently caught it, and it was still warm to the touch.

Leaning down to Raan, he gently placed his creation, a statuette of the fire dragon, into her small hands.

"Don't forget me, alright?"

"Kay," She said, cheerfully.

He smiled. The way she talked, her tone, made it seem that he really would be back by nightfall.

"Roku! If you are done impressing little girls with cheap theatrics, I believe we would like to be on our way now," Quan said.

Roku sighed and stood, waving to everyone as he turned away. He ran up onto the ship and faced the sea, to where he would begin.


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Little did Roku know that life on the sea would be more uneventful than life in the Fire Kingdom. Quan was constantly forcing him to go through every tacit he had ever learned, pointing out the most mundane details.

"You could always go for a flight," Quan teased.

Roku's stomach turned at the suggestion. "There's no way to control that beast. I could die before I had the chance to gain any experience."

Quan laughed, "He won't let you be harmed, humiliated, yes, but you won't loose anything more than pride." He turned to the sea, "Besides, I can understand why he wishes to shrink your head."

"What do you mean?" Roku asked haughtily.

"I mean that 'beast' as you call him is a better fire bender than you will ever hope to be. He is far more powerful than you, yet he will allow you to ride him. He is only seeking the respect he wholly deserves. In order for you to see how great he is, you must learn to see past your own nose," Quan said, reiterating the fact by flicking Roku's nose.

"Ow!" Roku said, rubbing the spot.

"I'll leave you to humble yourself," Quan smirked, folding his hands in his sleeves as he turned away.

Roku sighed and looked up. The giant red serpentine lizard twisted above him. "Wait… I'll try again. How do I call him down?"

"Simple. Concentrate your mind and call him to you. You have a connection already; you're just too stubborn to realize it."

Roku resented his master's tone, but concentrated on the red speck. He focused his entire being on trying to get the dragon to come, but didn't feel anything significant. "It's not working."

"So you believe. Wait, perhaps he'll decide to come to you after all."

"Why wouldn't he?" asked Roku, a tinge of anger in his voice.

"Because you're arrogant," Quan said simply.

Roku's face flushed but he returned to glare up at the speck. Slowly, the dragons form began to grow, coming closer to the boat.

"See? You must learn to be patient, Roku," Quan said, a smirk tugging at his lips once more.

Roku felt slightly as though he were on fire. His masters taunts were doing nothing for his temper.

The Dragon landed lightly on the large deck of the ship. His wise eyes turned to him.

Sighing, Roku stepped forward to try and fly again.


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_**Sorry I haven't been writing… I hope to make it up to you all soon.**_

_**I don't own Avatar, I don't own Roku, the earth kingdom, the fire kingdom… or pretty much anything else in this story…**_

Part Five: Dragon Whiskers

Roku scrambled up the side of the dragon. He didn't remember it being nearly this hard the last time… but then again, last time his biggest worry was dying. This time, his biggest worry was dying of humiliation.

"Don't take off until I'm ready, alright?" he said to the beast. The dragon gave a great, impatient sigh in reply.

"Yes, he is quite a whiner, isn't he?" Quan said.

"Master!" Roku whined.

"I only speak the truth," Quan taunted in sing-song.

Roku gave his master a look of venom, which Quan returned with and innocent smile. "I just wish I understood how to stand on this thing…" he muttered.

Without warning, one of the dragon's great whiskers seemed to get a mind of its own. Roku watched it with wide eyes as it slithered up to meet him. He stepped away from it, "Master! What is it doing?" he shrieked.

Quan simply chuckled, "Why don't you stand still and find out?"

"What if it tries to strangle me?" he yelled, continuing his back step down the dragons back.

"Then you'll be much more trusting of animals as an airbender," Quan said.

"That's not funny!"

"I thought it was," Quan smirked. "You must lean to trust your dragon, Roku. He will be the greatest protector of your life. But he can't save you until you stop suspecting him of attempted murder."

Roku stopped, but not because of his master "comforting" words. He had now reached the dragons wings and could go back any farther without tripping. He closed his eyes and turned his head away from the odd whisker, but soon it found his forehead and gently touched his skin. An explanatory image began in his head. It showed him a spot behind the dragon's great horns the seemed to be flat, easier to stand on then the constantly shifting muscles of the back. It also explained that the rope tied around the horns was useless, and that he should hold onto the stretch of bone between the horns. The images then stopped, and the whisker returned to its normal position.

Roku blinked. Unsure of what had happened, he walked forward and untied the ropes from the dragon's horns. Whoever had tied them there in the first place must have been as clueless as he was. He then threw the rope onto the deck and firmly gripped the dragon. "I'm ready," he told it.

The great beast raised its wings and took off powerfully. Roku felt the wind around him, but it seemed to be less intense now that he wasn't farther down the creatures unprotected back. He still felt nauseous, unprotected, but the feeling of impending doom had been lifted.


End file.
